Page 26 of The Biker's Red Christmas

It's like déjà vu. Instantly, her face drops, and she lets the eyeliner fall from her hands.

"What the fuck is this? Are you a cop or something?" She turns in her seat to glare at me.

"What? No. You know I'm not a cop." I stand up straight, disturbed by her sudden shift in temper.

"Bullshit. I don't know shit about you besides that you come in here and give shit away for free. Don't no one give anything away for free. We all in here to work for what we get." Zephrina snaps at me, and I raise my hands to show her I'm not a threat. This isn't going how I thought it would.

"Zephrina, I'm not here to start any trouble; I just want to help Max and Lia. That's all I want."

"For what? You don't know them either. They owe you some money or something? You trying to take over their strip? What do you want with them?" She shouts at me, and now everyone in the back room has stopped what they are doing and is looking at the two of us.

That's about as much verbal abuse as I'm going to take. I'm here to help. "Z, this is the last time I'm going to tell you. I don't want to sit from any of you but to help you in any way that I can. I do know Max and Lia. I know about their struggles and their wants. They know about me. I see them every day. Just because that's not enough for you to care doesn't mean it's not enough for me. I just hope that if some shit happens to you one day, there's still people around that give a damn about you the way I do. Now, do you have anything to say about Fisher or not?" I cross my arms over my chest and glare at her. I can see her brain moving, but she looks away from me and crosses her own arms over her chest. "I don't know anyone by that name. Sorry." She shrugs, and I roll my eyes at her.

Why the hell are these women so scared to do what's right?

I walk away from her and go to sit in the back of the room. It's not my usual spot, but I need a moment to cool down from what's just happened. Everyone starts to murmur, and after a few seconds, things go back to the way they were—people getting dressed and counting their money while others walk out to entertain the crowd outside.

I place my hand on the side of my face and look down at the floor. If the girls in here aren't going to give me any information, I'm not sure where else I can look. I can beat the streets a little more, and worst case, I can go to the cops to see if they're willing to part with any information, but I'm sure they won't be.

I take a deep breath and lift my head up, ready to figure out the next steps when I see Uni walking over to me. She was the one who alerted me to the fact that Max and Lia were missing in the first place.

"You know you shouldn't really rile up the girls. They'll turn on you fast." She chuckles and takes a seat next to me.

"Yeah, tell me about it." I look in the direction where Zephrina was sitting and am relieved to see that she's already walked out for her set.

"There's a lot of bad things that go on around here, you know. Most of the girls just mind their business because they don't want the same shit to happen to them. You can't be surprised if no one will tell you anything." Uni shrugs, and I shake my head.

"That's crap. How the hell is anything supposed to change if no one will take a stand? Whoever did this to Max and Lia is just going to keep on doing it. No one is going to stop them because no one is willing to say anything." I blow a breath out of my nose. I'm just getting more and more frustrated.

"I feel you. I wish it weren't the case, but that's just how it is around here." Uni tells me and stands up. She looks to the door, and I realize the song is about to change; she must be up next.

"Anyway, I have to go."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later."

She leans forward to hug me. I'm shocked, mostly because we don't usually hug, but I accept the affection anyway. Maybe she sees that I really need it.

She lingers for a second, and when she pulls back, she grabs my hand. My heart stills as I feel a piece of paper being slipped against my palm. It's the smoothest pass-off I've ever been involved in.

I don't bring any attention to the fact, just nod my head and watch her walk out of the room. I wait a second before getting up myself and walking out the door. I don't stop to talk to anyone, just beeline right out of the club.

When I'm in the frigid night air, away from any peering eyes, I quickly unravel the note and look down at it.

"Fisher throws parties every other Friday. At least one girl goes missing. The next one is this week." There's an address, and finally, it feels like I'm getting somewhere.

So much for waiting for Lash to find out some information for me. I'm going to do this. Even if it means I have to do this on my own.

11

LASH

To say I fucked up is an understatement. After we got back from the Hands of Hell clubhouse, Leo ripped me a new one.

I was there at that meeting to make sure shit went smooth, but my outburst at what they were telling us made certain that the Hands of Hell definitely considered us enemies.

What bothers me so much about this is the fact that if it were any other situation, I’d be able to handle myself. I have more self-control than most, but the minute Red entered the picture, it was like all my self-control flew out the window.

So far, no one has outwardly blamed me for the shitstorm that we're about to face, but I know they're thinking it. I can tell by the cold, silent treatment most of them are giving me. I don't give a fuck, though. I know what I did was right, at least in regards to those two assholes needing their asses beat. If Leo and the rest of the guys hadn't pulled me back, neither one of them would still be breathing.

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